john joins us live from washington, d.c. thank you for joining us. how are you doing? >> fine, don, thanks for having me on the show and for tackling this topic. >> it is a difficult and emotional topic. tell us about your brother, ted. did he feel ashamed about seeking treatment for mental health issues? >> i don't know if he felt ashamed as much as he was so far into it and his life had taken what he saw as such a desperate turn that it was not only the depression but it was the anxiety that accompanied that. it was the drugs that he had become accustomed to because of the really debilitating back pain that i wrote about. and it was really -- it was a lot more than that. and i think that people who are depressed and who have these things going on in their lives -- it gets to the point where sometimes they see no way out. and it starts to spiral from there. we've all seen it. all seen people who we think, they're going to pull themselves out of it. and i think even with my family, as much pain and as much suffering and as i wrote the sad eyes he had the few weeks befo